Navy to discharge ex-astronaut in stalking case - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Navy to discharge ex-astronaut in stalking case

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A former astronaut who gained notoriety for stalking a romantic rival after driving 900 miles straight from Houston is expected to be discharged from the Navy.

A board of inquiry made up of three Navy admirals voted 3-0 Thursday give Navy Capt. Lisa Nowak an “other than honorable” discharge and downgrade her rank from captain to commander, which affects her paygrade and pension.

The panel’s recommendation now goes to the secretary of the Navy for a final decision.

Nowak did not comment on the decision but remained composed. She pleaded guilty in November in Orlando, Fla., to felony burglary and misdemeanor battery in connection with the incident. She originally had been charged with two felonies — attempted kidnapping and burglary — along with misdemeanor battery and could have faced life in prison in the attempted kidnapping charge.

In February 2007, Nowak confronted Air Force Capt. Colleen Shipman, who had begun dating her love interest, in the parking lot of Orlando International Airport while wearing a trench coat and wig. She tried to get into Shipman’s car then attacked the woman with pepper spray. Shipman was able to drive away.

At the time, Nowak also reportedly wore an adult diaper during the drive from her home in Houston so she wouldn’t have to stop for bathroom breaks. On Thursday, Nowak testified she was not wearing the diaper, but it had been in the car since an evacuation drill during Hurricane Rita, more than a year before. She said at the time she used one because she could not get into a hotel.

Nowak, who was a married mother of three, flew on the space shuttle in 2006 and had what she described to police at the time of her arrest as “more than a working relationship but less than a romantic relationship” with former space shuttle pilot Bill Oefelein, who was divorced. She was dismissed from the astronaut corps after her arrest.

Shipman now lives in Alaska with Oefelein, who also was forced out of NASA.

Nowak’s counsel called her actions those “of a woman who was ill at the time.”

DISCUSS: THE DISCHARGE